Who We Are

Since 2006, University for Public Administration Bremen (HfÖV) is operating the Institute of Police and Security Research (IPoS) (Statute of the Institute of Police and Security Research IPoS at the University of Public Administration Bremen, amended 16 May 2013).

Despite the fact that the IPoS is still young, the activities are far-reaching and we always work intensively and with great motivation to improve and expand our portfolio, our knowledge and skills as well as our network.

As an interdisciplinary institute of the University oAS for Public Administration in Bremen/Germany, the IPoS focuses on research in the field of police, security and related topics.

Due to the specialist orientation of the institute members, the disciplines legal psychology, law, criminalistics, criminology and sociology are currently the scientific pillars of IPoS. Due to the broad spectrum of represented scientific disciplines, optimal framework conditions are in place to ensure the interdisciplinary and application orientation indispensable for police, risk and security related research.

As a research institute, we consider our activities as a service to science and contribution to the improvement of society.

Therefore we practice according to the following basic principles:

Independence The independence of science has always been an important pillar in our society. We are always committed to this independence in our work and expressly differentiate ourselves from individual interests.

We are convinced that only by such foundations the credibility and reliability in our research work can be guaranteed. Every employee of this institution undertakes to follow this principle.

Transparency Transparency in science is, in our opinion, one of the essential ingredients for creating credibility and trust, not only in the academic world, but especially in all parts of society.

We are therefore convinced that our work must be comprehensible for everyone at all times and that this is the only way to fully acquire the trust in us and our work and work therefore under the claim to be transparent.

Unity of teaching and research The IPoS as a research institute of the University of Public Administration Bremen sees itself as part of the networking between research and teaching. For this purpose, ideas and wishes from the university teaching point of view are always included in our work and we always support the teaching, students and professors as well as the University as an institution through our scientific work.

Interdisciplinarity We always pursue the approach of working interdisciplinary. We pursue this claim in our scientific work to be able to map the complexity of the connections, which make our world increasingly exciting, but sometimes even more difficult to portray and understand. In addition to the focuses of the university HfÖV, which are reflected in the offer of study programs: police training, risk and security management as well as tax and law, whose interdisciplinary linking always are involved in the research purpose, we always take care to keep the freedom of thinking out of the box, maybe even to take an unconventional path.

Development Nobody is perfect. We are not perfect either. But we work hard to always get a little closer to perfect. Be it as a scientific institution, as an employer or as a consortium leader - or a partner. Continuous development requires self-criticism, reflection, openness, trust, fairness and the claim to always want to work. We always strive to establish this claim in our internal and external structures.

Knowledge Transfer There are two things that increase when you share them: happiness and knowledge. Knowledge transfer for us as a research institute is not just a concern but a task. It is not just about the results of our research work and projects, but about our experience at all institutional levels. We believe that through such mutual learning we have a positive influence on the research landscape, teaching and science and perhaps

The IPoS has partnered-up with several institutions at academic, practical and civil society level throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries for the purpose of initiating and implementing joint activities.

As our Institute is operated by the University for Public Administration Bremen (HfÖV) we would like to introduce it briefly to you:

The ‘Hochschule für Öffentliche Verwaltung Bremen HfÖV (University for Public Admin-istration)’ is a university of applied sciences located in the city state Bremen, established in 1979 by law (Bremisches Gesetz über die Hochschule für Öffentliche Verwaltung vom 18. Juni 1979 Brem.GBl. S. 233, amended 01.10.2006).

The HfÖV operates two major study programmes: - Law and Taxation - Risk and Security Management; - and additionally, the HfÖV serves as public Police Academy.

An introduction to the study programmes offered at University for Public Administration are available at www.hfoev.bremen.de (German)